Chris Nolan offers up an interesting take on the Open Source movement:

It's this sense of the dangers that come from sacrificing control that lie behind computer geeks' talk about open source systems. Some of the embrace of open-source is idealistic, a belief in collaboration and co-operation. But some of it is also cynical in its appreciation of the ways in which power can corrupt. Open source fights power with transparency, which – socially and in a host of other ways -- restrains individual power. Friedman likes open source because it sounds nice and appears to grant ultimate freedom; besides everyone in Silicon Valley thinks it's cool. But it's better to like open source – which the Constitution in Exile folks would probably regard as an abridgement of property rights – as a policing system.

Earlier in that same piece, Chris appears to be sounding the alarm about the Constitution in Exile crowd:

On Sunday, we got a look at this conversation from another angle when Jeffrey Rosen's "The Unregulated Offensive," appeared in The New York Times Magazine. It's a wonderful – and scary – look at a group of dedicated conservative legal scholars who are working to overturn the theories and supports that justify the existence of almost every U.S. regulatory agency out there, from the Federal Communications Commission to the Environmental Protection Agency. This Libertarian-inspired movement isn't a trivial one; in fact it's cutting-edge legal theory. And it shouldn't be dismissed. It's strength – conscious or not – comes from an increasing common belief on both sides of the political spectrum that government cripples individual's rights. It can't be a coincidence that this belief is rising up at the same time that on-line activity – the ability, say, to IM someone in Beijing – is increasing individual's power to control their economic destiny. I know a little bit about this last part first-hand. You're reading the results.

Paging the ghost of Mark Hanna and JP Morgan. Please begin the final phase of the reestablishment of the age of the Robber Barons.

Don't be vexed America..continue Consuming...